Al-Qaeda launching a magazine for women

It's an exciting time for magazines. Both Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine have made big splashes by fancily rebooting themselves, while the industry at large is celebrating the arrival of the just-released iPad 2, a potential savior for the format. And on top of all that, the glossies have recently welcomed yet another title into their ranks — and it's, um, al-Qaeda's new women's magazine, dubbed "Jihad Cosmo" by the Brits.

Here's the inaugural issue's cover:

But we shouldn't judge a magazine by its cover (even if it is, holy shit, so scary-looking). No, we're Americans — we're better than that. So let's judge it by its contents:

The slick, 31-page Al-Shamikha magazine — meaning The Majestic Woman — has advice for singletons on "marrying a mujahideen." Readers are told it is their duty to raise children to be mujahideen ready for jihad.

There are exclusive interviews with martyrs' wives, who praise their husbands' decisions to die in suicide attacks.

And the 'beauty column' instructs women to stay indoors with their faces covered to keep a 'clear complexion'. … A trailer for the next issue promises tips on skin care — and how to wage electronic jihad.